All the Anime You Can Find

New York Magazine's Vulture blog reports that the Hughes brothers — the directors behind Menace II Society, Dead Presidents, From Hell, and The Book of Eli — are negotiating with the Warner Brothers movie studio to direct the planned live-action film adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira manga. ComingSoon.net reported in December that Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, the writers of the first Iron Man film, wrote the most recent script drafts for the two proposed films. According to the Vulture blog, "an official release from the studio is expected later this week" regarding Albert and Allen Hughes' involvement.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic, The Aviator) is producing the planned live-action film adaptation through his Appian Way production company. Mad Chance producer Andrew Lazar (Jonah Hex, Space Cowboys) said at Comic-Con International in August that the live-action project "is a real priority project for Warner Brothers" but is not likely to go into production before the third quarter of 2010 for a 2011 release. Otomo is an executive producer and consultant on the project.

According to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety in 2008, Warner and Appian Way will adapt the Akira manga into two live-action films. Each film would cover three volumes of the renowned science-fiction manga about a governmental genetic project and a teenager's attempt to save a fellow biker gang member. Otomo directed his own animated film adaptation that premiered on July 16, 1988 — the same day that the story has the fictional Tokyo being destroyed.

Update: More background information added.

The Sankei Sports newspaper reports that Arashi band member Satoshi Ohno will star in a live-action television adaptation of Fujiko Fujio A's Kaibutsu-kun supernatural action manga this April. The story follows the prince of Kaibutsu Land, Kaibutsu-kun, as he decides to go to the human world as part of his training to become the king. Fujiko Fujio A is best known for co-creating the classic manga Doraemon.

The new series, which is the first live-action adaptation of the manga after two animated series, will run on the NTV network. The production will use computer graphics and special makeup to transform Ohno into a kaibutsu (monster).

The original manga ran in Shonen Gahosha's Shonen Gaho magazine from 1965 and 1969. Later incarnations ran in Shonen Gahosha's Weekly Shonen King (1967-1969) and Shogakukan's CoroCoro Comic (1980-1982). Tokyo Movie Shinsha animated the story into a 1968-1969 television series and Shin'ei Doga animated a remake from 1980 to 1982. There was also an anime film in 1981.